The History of Sambo:

Since ancient times man has developed types of physical exercise which were used in combat training. The most popular exercise was some type of grappling or wrestling. In the folklore of most nations there was an ideal hero who had extraordinary, even magical and spiritual powers, which enabled them to fight evil forces. One of the main characteristics of these heroes- Gilgamesh in Babylon, Ozikis in Egypt, Hercules in Greece, Great U in China, Zigfried in Germany, Ruslem in Persia, Keshar in Tibet, Illya Murometz in Russia- was that they were all unbeatable masters of wrestling.

In Egypt, physical exercise has existed for a long time and evidence has been found within the pyramids of the Pharaohs and nobles of that time. In one pyramid around 400 pitchers were found, each depicting different sequences of wrestling techniques, which are recognizable even today.

The ancient greeks also played an important role in the history of physical culture, developing a strong system of physical training as early as the 9-12th century B.C. In special schools (Palestas) experienced teachers used complex programs to train young athletes in wrestling, sprinting, long jump, juggling and discuss throwing, forming the basis of the classic contest – The Pentathlon.

The first rules of competition for wrestling were laid down by the founder of Athens – Tazaem Stance wrestling was popular, where the winner was the person who managed to throw his opponent to the ground three times whilst remaining standing himself. They were also allowed to win by throwing the opponent to the ground and managing to hold him for a specific amount of time. There were no weight categories at that time.

Ancient Greece, of course invented the Olympic Games (776 BC) and wrestling was in that first program as an individual sport and also as a component part of Pancration – a combination of fist-fighting and wrestling (circa 648 B.C).

Rome also played an essential part in the development of wresting, but rather than following the Greek philosophy of all-round athletic development, the romans showed a tendency towards military training. There was a predominance of military games and drills took place. During the upsurge of feudalism in Europe (11th and 15th Centuries A.D) there developed a system of knights training which included many fighting contests with and without weapons.

Talhoffer’s (1443-1467) book of wrestling was one of the first. The illustrations within that book show moves and techniques of Ju-jitsu.

From the beginning of the 15th century the military exercises of the knights differed from the traditional forms of wrestling from the peasant class, many of which are preserved today. Medieval manuscripts and calendars show that all fairs, weddings and general celebrations had, without fail, wrestling contest.

During this time most countries were developing systems of physical exercise which clearly expressed there national character, but in spite of the differences in principles and aims between the different countries they all included in their systems – fencing, running, swimming and wrestling.

Wrestling in Russia developed independently from other countries. Strength, adroitness and endurance were long admired characteristics in heroes and thus all festive gatherings ended with a wrestling contest.

  The importance of wrestling in the training of warriors cannot be underestimated. In those years battles were in character of armed combat in which strength, adroitness and endurance played a decisive part in winning a battle. Sometimes the threat of war could be solved by the duel between two warriors, usually the best wrestlers. So in the Lavretiev Chronicles (993 AD) narrating the raid of the Pecheneg Prince offered Prince Vladimir of russia a duel between two wrestlers instead of a battle. Price Vladimir agreed and the russian wrestler strangled the Pecheneg wrestler with his bare hands.

Wrestling was a way of solving arguments and in Russian towns there was a special place built to stage these matches.

Sambo wrestling was born in Russia as a result of exhaustive research by soviet coaches and sportsmen. Soviet by birth and international by its essence, it united the experiences of the last Millennium of the different nationalities in the fields of wrestling and self defence. In sport Sambo all techniques of any of the national and international types of wrestling and Combat Sambo incorporates the best achievements from different systems of self-defence. such a wide principal in the selection of the techniques has formed the rich technical arsenal that is Sambo, which is quite deservedly called “The invisible weapon”- the weapon that is always with you.

Sambo Wrestling is one of the youngest sports in Russia but it would be more difficult to find a sport with a more interesting and complex history. Sambo grew from not from one but from several routes, many quite diverse. Even the name itself was repeatedly changing as if trying to make life difficult for future historians! – “Self-defence”, “samoz”, “system sam”, “freestyle wrestling”, and then finally “Sambo Wrestling”.

There are a few variations in calculating the age of Sambo. Some are inclined to begin the history of Sambo from November 1938 when it was officially recognized as a cultivated type of sport within the Soviet Union. Others quite reasonably notice that Sambo wrestling contests were taking place earlier in 1938 and that it was developing during the 1930’s. Yet another group note that a prototype of Sambo was beginning to take shape in the early 1920’s.

When talking about the birth of Sambo its appearance is, as a rule, associated with the different names of certain Soviet Sports Specialists. It is traditionally considered that the cradle of Sambo was held by three outstanding men: V.A. Spiridonov, B.C Oshepkov and A.A. Xarlampiev. In fact, each of their activities within the conception of Sambo contributed to huge stages in the growth of the sport and for that reason it would be unfair not to take into consideration the enormous personal contributions that these masters gave. Nevertheless, to keep their contributions in context we must turn our attention to two highly important circumstances.

Firstly, and most importantly, all the activity around the creation of Sambo was not just the result of individual’s intentions. There was a close connection and direct influence from parties of a certain inner and outer politics. Sambo was conceived in response to the “Social Order” of that time – a hard time for the New Republic (USSR). Civil-war, counter revolution, and all sorts of bandit groups were tearing it apart and there was a need for a combat system that would help control the difficulties of the New Republic.

Secondly, the work in creating this new type of wrestling was of a collective character and many people participated to various degrees. Every new generation of sports specialist, coaches and sportsmen raised a new floor in this complicated sport building. Some would build the equivalent of a supporting wall, others just a few bricks but the creative effort of each and every one of them served the common cause- the perfection and improvements of this new and fascinating wrestling- Sambo.

I would like to say a few words about the different styles of national wrestling that were studied and used to create Sambo wrestling by enthusiasts of this sport. Tartat wrestling, “Kuresh” is wrestling on belts, quite often carried out in everyday clothes and very popular in Tartarstan. Every national celebration (Sabatuy) has a Kuresh competition. The aim if the wrestling is not letting go of the belt (Kushak) and to throw your opponent to the ground. Bashkir’s national wrestling has similar rules. Other types include Tuvin’s “Kuresh”, Yakut’s “Hapsayguy” and the national wrestling form Buriat. No less popular are the wrestling forms from the Kafkas in Georgia. These include “Chidoaba”, a very fast style of wrestling , and “Koh” from Armenia which actually starts with a warm up dance which lasts about one minute. The rules allow pick-ups, slams, body drops, sweeps and leg grabs. The wrestler wins if his opponents back touches the ground.

In Uzbekistan the national wrestling Kupash is very popular. This style has two variations that differ from each other by the rules. The wrestlers that compete in Fergan Rules compete in national dressing gowns (Chapain) with sashes (Belbak) and soft shoes. Wrestler’s grab each other by the sash and they are not allowed to let go until the end of the contest. They are not allowed to perform body drops, sweeps or leg grabbing. In the second form (Buchara Rules) the wrestlers wear light clothes and are allowed to do body drops and sweeps , but not leg grabs. The target for the competition is the same as Fergan rules. Kazachstan also has a national wrestling form with belts called “Kazachsha Kures”.

Sambo wrestling is about the will to win, fitness, courage, strength, quickness and adroitness. Training in Sambo helps sportsmen to gain the ability to defend themselves without having to resort to weaponry.

Thus Sambo wrestling is an excellent sport for anybody in the field of self-defence and with one that I am proud to be affiliated with.

 Vadim Kolganov- Russian Coach of Sambo Wresting,
Master of Sport: Central Academy of Sport, Moscow 1989- 1991